Article: TX 8, MIN 1: Circling the Drain

[Tom Froemming]

One run. Three hits. Another devastating out recorded on the basepaths. Yep, just another drop down the drain in this 2018 Twins season.

 

On the plus side, Eddie Rosario was able to start, Eduardo Escobar was able to come off the bench and Brian Dozier made one of the best double plays you’ll ever see. And, not that this is necessarily positive, but it's obvious what Matt Belisle has become. At least that should provide clarity.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Fernando Romero: 50 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 K, 2 BB, 64.0% strikes

Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 2 K, 2 BB

Lineup: 1-for-3 w/RISP, 2 LOB

Bottom three per WPA: Rosario -.130, Romero -.127, Dozier -.097

Download attachment: WinEx622.png

This game was lots more frustration piled on top of what has already been a frustrating year, so let’s just start out with the good stuff, huh? Check out this play Dozier made:

The Twins turned in a handful of other nice defensive plays, but unfortunately none of that really matters if you can’t score runs.

 

The Twins trailed 4-0, but started to get rolling in the sixth inning. Max Kepler hit a leadoff double and Ryan LaMarre drew a nine-pitch walk. It seemed like an opportune time to strike against Mike Minor, who had been excellent up to that point.

 

On a ball in the dirt, Kepler advanced to third but LaMarre hesitated before breaking to second. He was eventually tagged out in a rundown for the first out.

 

That can’t happen when you’re down four runs.

 

It was especially maddening because that inning continued to go well for the Twins. Bobby Wilson walked, then Joe Mauer hit an RBI double. Rosario popped out, bringing Dozier to the plate.

 

There were two outs and runners on second and third. Dozier represented the tying run. A lefty was on the mound. I didn’t expect Texas to pitch to him in that situation. Dozier’s a career .275/.352/.520 (.872 OPS) hitter against lefties and Minor was struggling in that inning. If teams are pitching to him in that spot, it’s a pretty strong indication they don’t just think he’s having a down year, they think they’ve figured him out.

 

And sure enough, Dozier popped out in foul territory to end the threat.

 

One night after giving up three runs in an inning, Belisle gave up four runs in the ninth tonight. Along with just looking terrible, he’s now thrown 48 pitches over the last two nights. Great guy or not, if he’s not DFA’d to bring up a fresh arm … I don’t even know. No words.

 

Postgame with Molitor

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Download attachment: Bullpen622.png

AL Central Standings

CLE 41-33

DET 36-40 (-6)

MIN 33-39 (-7)

CHW 25-50 (-16.5)

KC 23-52 (-18.5)

 

Next Three Games

Sat vs. TEX, 1:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Yovani Gallardo

Sun vs. TEX, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs Bartolo Colon

Mon OFF

Tue at CHW, 7:10 pm CT: TBD

 

Last Three Games

BOS 9, MIN 2: There Go Those Shiny Pitching Stats

MIN 4, BOS 1: For Grossman and Kepler, The Price Was Right

MIN 6, BOS 2: Bats Get to Boston Bullpen

 

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[Han Joelo]

Well, umm, I got to confess I peeked under the tree already.  I'm just going to toss this turdburger in the garbage and wait for the minor league report.  Probably going to take a while, though.

[D.C Twins]

I'm sure Grossman is a 'Designated' something..... I just haven't been able to figure out what.....maybe the FO can enlighten me!

[D.C Twins]

…and as long as the FO is in the enlightening mood, maybe they could free me of my ignorance surrounding the advanced metrics surrounding the Belisile signing. 

[D.C Twins]

Dear FO,

 

Please disregard D.C. Twins negativity.... We are so thankful for your enployment as we are quite certain that we would not have lasted this long on another MLB roster and know there are no other MLB roster spots waiting for us if our tight bond is ever to break. 

 

Forever Yours,

Grossman, Wison, and Belisle aka "The Triple Threat"

 

PS. We made up "The Triple Threat" ourselves. We think a hard core nickname may buy us a few more weeks on the MLB roster. 

[D.C Twins]

Dear Twins Daily,

 

I cannot believe that I'm on an MLB roster with like 4 people in line for demotion before me..... And apparently they have no intention of bringing up anyone from the minors anyway!

 

(shhh, don't tell anyone but THIS-IS-AWESOME!)

 

Super Stoked,

Motter

 

 

 

[TheLeviathan]

That lineup....good lord.  

[D.C Twins]

Will Ferrell on SNL "Do you know that this song needs?! More Cowbell!"

 

Paul Molitor with Bullpen: "Do you know that this game need?! More Belisle!"

[Kelly Vance]

Unfortunate title selection. Nobody circles the drain in June. Haven't I taught you TD guys anything?

 

 

[jun]

I really think they should seriously consider my wishes!!! I wanted Belisle gone and they let him stay last night again to pitch another inning! Look what happened? 4 more runs in one inning. I wanted someone pinch hit for Dozier when runners are in scoring position no matter who's pitching and they let Dozier bat with 2 outs! Look what happened? Pop out to end the inning and the only hope. I guess Dozier has been figured out by the league now. Well he has never hit when it really matters anyway.

[yarnivek1972]

Will Ferrell on SNL "Do you know that this song needs?! More Cowbell!"

 

Paul Molitor with Bullpen: "Do you know that this game need?! More Belisle!"

Of course the joke from 1988. Do you know what the Twins need? Les(s) Straker...

[twins_89]

Hard to compete when 8 of the team's 12 position players have a sub .700 OPS. The lineup the Twins put on the field tonight wouldn't even be considered a good minor league batting order.

[bluechipper]

On the bright side, Romero looked pretty good. Who knows how the game would have ended up had that ridiculously unlucky 4th inning happened differently.

[jun]

If Dozier has been figured out by the league, I seriously doubt he's going to have a good second half. Whoever predicted Dozier's going to outproduce Escobar at the end of year really needs to check his vision.

[rghrbek]

Was it really suspenseful when Dozier was up in a clutch situation?  Gleemans tweets have shown how dreadful he has been in high leverage situations.  Ugh.

 

This lineup stinks.  I've been preaching wait till the ASB before the negative talk, but even with our recent success against good teams, do we think this team is ready to break out?

 

they certainly do not know how to run the bases.  That's actually part of playing baseball.

[rv78]

Another game of mistakes and missed opportunities. Molitor never played like this. Why does he have his team playing like this? I would have Dozier and LaMarre both on the bench today and I'd tell them why they aren't playing. Sometimes you have to set an example. When you're struggling to score runs you just can't lose runners on the bases. Playing smart is better than playing dumb. We've seen enough dumb already for the entire year. 

 

I'd really like to see Gordon getting some playing time instead of Motter, Adrianza and Dozier. Not one of the three are relative to the Twins future, why are they being used over Gordon? Especially when none of the 3 are producing? Makes no sense.

 

Hey Belisle, look out, I hear Matt Crapps is available!

[bighat]

Another soft-tossing, below average journeyman lefty holds the mighty Twins offense in check. Those number 4 and 5 starters lick their chops when they see the Twins on the schedule.

 

The Twins offense has been horrible. So what does the front office do? Sign Matt Belisle. I realize that bullpen help was needed but we've got those guys in AAA for a reason.

 

I hear Buxton had a HR in Rochester last night. Might as well bring 'em up, pronto. He seems to play better in low-pressure situations. It seems that with the Twins now 7 games back, circling the drain, it would be a good time to bring him up and see if he can put up some stats.

 

Depressed and disappointed. I still haven't reached the "acceptance" stage of grief but I'm almost there.

[mikelink45]

 

Another game of mistakes and missed opportunities. Molitor never played like this. Why does he have his team playing like this? I would have Dozier and LaMarre both on the bench today and I'd tell them why they aren't playing. Sometimes you have to set an example. When you're struggling to score runs you just can't lose runners on the bases. Playing smart is better than playing dumb. We've seen enough dumb already for the entire year. 

 

I'd really like to see Gordon getting some playing time instead of Motter, Adrianza and Dozier. Not one of the three are relative to the Twins future, why are they being used over Gordon? Especially when none of the 3 are producing? Makes no sense.

 

Hey Belisle, look out, I hear Matt Crapps is available!

We cannot bench our starters because our best players on not on the roster.  I compare this with the minor league report - and wonder if Motter, Grossman, Adrianza, Wilson could break in to the starting roles at Fort Myers.  Of course they might challenge Mr Sano there.  

 

I cannot say Dozier will not pull off a hot second half. He has had three seasons with bi-polar half season stats so he could catch fire, but the problem is that his bad half is so disastrous that it is too late to do what is needed.  

 

Of course the real strategy is to get Cleveland to take Belisle to solve their bullpen woes, then we have a chance to catch them.

[Don Walcott]

2 of 3 against Cleveland and Boston. One loss and the season’s over?

[the_brute_squad]

One of the problems (there are many) is that our "best" hitter has a slightly better average than Robbie Grossman.  I would almost rather have Jeff Reboulet or Chip Hale than Grossman.  Grossman's best attribute is that he looks like he should be a stud ballplayer.

[Tom Froemming]

 

Unfortunate title selection. Nobody circles the drain in June. Haven't I taught you TD guys anything?

You're not ready to say they're circling the drain? Sure, the season's not down the drain yet, but they're seven back. The Twins would have to get red hot for an extended period and Cleveland would have to come back to Earth (they're 19-11 over their last 30 games) for them to get back into it. Also, the trade deadline is getting closer all the time. It seems likely the Twins are going to be sellers and Cleveland buyers. 

 

But everything's OK? Yeah, you're going to have to work harder to enlighten me I guess.

[Riverbrian]

 

2 of 3 against Cleveland and Boston. One loss and the season’s over?

 

I agree with the sentiment 100%. 

 

However... the 39 Losses? 

[lukeduke1980]

I'd be interested in seeing a post prioritizing the players whom should be DFA'd.  There are literally 5-7 candidates. Adrianza batting 5th?  Molitor might not be perfect but he can only write down the names given to him.

[notoriousgod71]

This is the most uninspiring team I've ever watched from the top down.

 

I typically only watch Berrios starts because every other game usually elicits nothing but disgust and I am a far happier and healthier person not watching this team. My next step will be to stop looking at the boxscore.

[Darius]

Just once I'd love for one of these brown nosing network reporters like that hack Doogie or Johnny Athletic to do what their readers actually want them to do, and cut out the fluff.

 

Hold this FO accountable and ask them, "what is your thought process on Belisle, Grossman, etc?" By no means am I imploring anyone to be offensive or rude. But, ask a real GD question.

 

I miss the days of actual journalism. All media today (with the exception of sites like these) is absolute garbage.

[Tom Froemming]

OK, now that it's clear Belisle isn't going anywhere, I do have some words on that today.

 

What kind of a message is the front office sending to its young players in the high minors? 

 

They burned through Busenitz, having him throw 25+ pitches on back-to-back games, sent him down and haven't given him another shot despite outstanding numbers in the minors. They've now done the same with Belisle, but he gets to stay?

 

The same kind of thing happened with Duffey, Curtiss and Moya, all of whom have also been great for Rochester. Why not use that last bullpen spot as a rotation between those guys? There's also Luke Bard, Jake Reed, Nick Anderson ...

 

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but this is crazy. I get that Matt Belisle is a great guy, but if he's that valuable in the clubhouse can't you just Ichiro him? Make him a special assistant in the front office but allow him to continue working out with the team and be a peer mentor.

[jun]

 

2 of 3 against Cleveland and Boston. One loss and the season’s over?

Cleveland is starting to run away by sweeping teams while the Twins are winning a few series. 7 games out now. Cleveland can only get better. I think the season is almost over.

[terrydactyls]

Another game of mistakes and missed opportunities. Molitor never played like this. Why does he have his team playing like this? I would have Dozier and LaMarre both on the bench today and I'd tell them why they aren't playing. Sometimes you have to set an example. When you're struggling to score runs you just can't lose runners on the bases. Playing smart is better than playing dumb. We've seen enough dumb already for the entire year. 

 

I'd really like to see Gordon getting some playing time instead of Motter, Adrianza and Dozier. Not one of the three are relative to the Twins future, why are they being used over Gordon? Especially when none of the 3 are producing? Makes no sense.

 

Hey Belisle, look out, I hear Matt Crapps is available!

 

Adrianza is fifth on the team in batting average. I don't think he is the problem.

[Doctor Wu]

The Belisle implosion aside, three hits in this game and four hits in the previous one. We are not going to win many games with pathetic output like that.

[Vanimal46]

OK, now that it's clear Belisle isn't going anywhere

Falvine already spoke to this and said he's sticking around?

 

I'm quickly running out of patience with this regime if that's the case.